Stevana Moratto
"Three Girls" |
Context
The short story "Three Girls" is set in the year 1956, as a flashback of the narrator. The story is set in New York City at a bookstore that is a favorite among the two girls in the story. The two girls, who remained unnamed, are NYU poets that are deemed as “unconventional” females for their time. During this time America was changing, rock n’ roll was rising into the scene and the civil rights movement was in full swing. Marilyn Monroe was a sensation among Americans and would soon die 6 years after the event in the story took place.
Plot overview
The story begins in 1956, with two girl-poets from NYU entering their favorite used book store – “Strand Used Books” located on Broadway and Twelfth. It was winter with the streets glimmering a sepia glow and the snow falling onto the sidewalks. The girls roamed the aisles enchanted by books. The bargained books were stacked high, endlessly and beautifully covering the shelves. The girls wandered the Strand and our narrator watches the other girl, with agony over her unspoken love. They admired yet were confused by the authors and their works. Believing they were descendants of these amazing authors although they were “American middle class, and Caucasian, and female.” But of course not “conventional females.” As our narrator was stumbling through books her friend comes up behind her and whisks her away by the wrist, leaving the narrator thrilled, yet remembered how feared she is that her friend could easily break her heart. As they approach an aisle the narrator is confused as to what she is supposed to be seeing, for there is just a woman in a man’s coat shuffling through book shelves. Yet soon she is baffled as she realizes that woman is Marilyn Monroe. She was all alone, not a man in sight, as one would expect. This woman looked nothing like Marilyn Monroe, she wasn’t glamourous, she more resembled them rather than “her Hollywood image.” But this was, in fact, the Marilyn Monroe; sifting through books a real reader. The girls kept at a distance as they watched her grab books off shelves, eager to see what Marilyn Monroe reads. They followed and whispered as she moved aisle to aisle, moving just to see what choices she made to purchase. The girls became terrified and fearful her cover would be blown, privacy becoming destroyed. Our narrator soon became annoyed at her recklessness, but her friend grabbed her and voiced that Monroe thought she was, in that moment, just like them. An anonymous female human being, she wished to be just like them. But it was too late for she, without realizing, had become a part of history. It was too late for her to be anonymous. The girls then watched her get up with her arms overflowing with books, hoping she would be leaving soon before being recognized. But instead she moved into the lone aisle left un-entered by the two girls, called “Judaica,” books in numerous languages lined the shelves. Marilyn pulled a book off the shelf, getting lost into its pages, as though she was searching for something. Suddenly a clerk called out, “Hey you!” the three girls looked up stunned. But he wasn’t speaking to any of them, but rather to someone putting a book into their coat pocket. After this Marilyn became uneasy, soon making eye contact with the two girls, yet stubbornly turning back in order to finish her book. The girls continued to hover, feeling protective over her now. She glanced back at them, shyly smiling as if to say “thank you for not speaking my name.” Soon they watched her make her way with an abundance of books to the front of the store, ready to make her purchase. Though she seemed hesitant, uneasy, pulling big dark glasses over her eyes and pulling up her collar. At this point our narrator stepped forward offering to buy the books for her so she doesn’t have to risk being recognized. The two girls bought Marilyn’s large sum of books for a total of $55.85, the most they had ever handed over to the cashier. They handed over the purchases to Marilyn, who had already awaiting by the door, and in turn she gave them a book: “Selected Poems of Marianne Moore.” Then she walked away without a word, into the snowy streets of New York City. The girls knew as much as they wanted to they couldn’t follow, but they stood in shock of the day’s events. The most magical evening of their lives, when the narrator had kissed her unspoken love for the first time.